Authors: D. R. Graham
“Yeah, don’t worry about it,” I said, although I was worried about it. I led Stella over to the parking lot and wandered around until I found Tawnie’s truck and trailer. She was bent over wrapping Willow’s leg. “Hey, I got you something.”
She spun around and her expression transitioned between shock and joy. “Oh, she’s gorgeous.”
“Her name’s Stella. Ron said you can use her for the weekend.”
Tawnie bounded over and launched herself at me. She wrapped her arms around my neck and knocked my hat off in the process. “Thanks, Billy.” Before I had a chance to register the fact that she was hugging me, she stopped, and lunged over to pick my hat up off the ground. “Sorry.” She brushed it lightly and handed it back to me.
I held it in my hands and watched as she inspected Stella. The smile on her face made her even more beautiful. Knowing that I put that smile on her face felt pretty good.
“I’m going to go see if the barrels are still set up,” she said excitedly. “If I can get some arena time, do you want to come over and watch?”
“Sure.”
“What’s your phone number? I’ll text you if I can get a run.”
I told her my number and watched her type it into her phone.
“Thank you so much.”
I put my hat back on and tipped the brim at her. “Don’t mention it.”
She led Stella across the field towards the arena. I watched her hair sway across her back for a while, then headed over to our trailer to wait for her text. Shae-Lynn’s family motorhome was parked next to us and she was standing near her horse trailer, brushing Harley.
“Hey,” I said.
She stood up, but kept brushing. “Hi. I thought you were quitting the rodeo in order to pursue non-redneck careers.”
“Retired, not quit. Cole convinced me to come along for this weekend only. It’s his first ride back since his shoulder injury.”
“I’m sure it didn’t take too much convincing to get you to tag along. You were literally born at a rodeo.”
“Only because my dad and all his buddies, including your dad, were too drunk to drive my mom to the hospital.”
She smiled at the memory of our dads retelling that story every chance they got, then her expression turned more serious. “It won’t be easy to get it out of your blood.”
“I don’t even miss it.” I leaned in and gently tugged her braid. “You changed your hair.”
“Yeah.” She seemed unsure whether I was teasing her.
“It looks good.”
Her cheeks blushed as she tucked a few flyaways behind her ear. “Thanks.”
I studied her face for a while. “Is something else different too?”
She shrugged one shoulder. “No. I’m the same as I’ve always been.” Her big green eyes shifted to meet my stare.
There was something different about her, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. “Is your mom inside?”
“No. She’s touring with my dad. It’s just Lee-Anne and me.”
“Your dad agreed to let his daughters’ tour around on this circuit without chaperones?”
“He doesn’t know. He thinks we’re back in Calgary.”
I chuckled and shook my head, wondering how that was going to go when he found out and the shit hit the fan. “That’s probably not a good idea with all these cowboys around.”
“What difference does it make if we’re home by ourselves with a bunch of ranch hands, or on the circuit by ourselves with a bunch of rodeo cowboys?”
“He can fire his ranch hands for messing with either of you.”
She seemed surprised that I even had an opinion on the subject. “We’re not kids anymore. We can take care of ourselves.”
I watched her for a while, still trying to figure out what was different about her. “That was a good practice run you had earlier.”
She smiled, maybe from the compliment I gave her, or maybe from the memory of the last conversation we had when I gave her barrel racing advice. “Someone told me Harley was dropping his shoulder on the first barrel. My times have been improving since I corrected it.”
“Hmm. Do you always take other people’s advice?”
“Only if they’re right.”
“You’re welcome,” I said, kind of cocky.
Her eyes darted over to connect with mine and she seemed like she was going to say something sassy about my arrogance, but instead she said, “You look different.”
“Yeah, they had to reconstruct my cheek and jaw bone.”
She nodded her approval. “You look good.”
I laughed. “What does that mean? Are you saying that the bull kicked the ugly out of me?”
“No.” She snuck one more glance, then went back to grooming. “You look more like your dad.”
She was the only person who wasn’t afraid to talk about my dad around me. It seemed strange to hear her do it so casually, but for some reason I didn’t mind it coming from her. I pushed my hat back and watched her pick Harley’s front left hoof. “Hey, I don’t know if Cole ever thanked you, but I want to thank you for what you did.”
She stood and leaned against Harley’s neck to give him a hug. “You don’t need to thank me. I’m just glad you’re both okay now.” She slid her hand over Harley’s coat and ran her fingers through his mane. “How much school did you miss?”
“Two terms.”
“Are you planning on going back?”
I nodded, although I hadn’t handed in the forms to reapply after my medical leave of absence. “What have you been doing since I saw you last?” I asked.
“I took some music theory and sports psychology courses at the University of Calgary.”
“Great. You’ll be able to diagnose me when you finish your degree.”
She laughed. “I think I can already do that.”
“Really? You think you’ve got me all figured out?”
“Yeah, I do.” She threw the hoof pick in the grooming tray. “I think I have your brother figured out too.”
“I doubt that. There’s a whole team of professionals who haven’t been able to figure him out.” I turned out of habit as if I was going to spit.
Her eyebrows angled together, and she tilted her head when I didn’t actually spit. “You’re not chewing tobacco.”
“I quit.”
“Really?” She sounded legitimately surprised.
“Yeah, some girl told me it was repulsive.”
She laughed, and seemed a bit smug that I took her advice. “Have you quit saying
ain’t
too?”
“Only hicks say
ain’t
.”
She rested her cheek against Harley’s cheek as she massaged his neck. “Do you always take other people’s advice?”
Usually, no. I gave Harley a pat, wondering why I had taken her comments about me being hick to heart. I didn’t have an explanation, but she was waiting for me to respond, so I stole her comment from before. “Only if they’re right.”
I meant for it to be funny, but it didn’t make her laugh. It seemed to make her get lost in thought. Her sister Lee-Anne bounced up and shoved me in the shoulder to interrupt. “Billy Ray Ryan, did you really buy a barrel horse for Tawnie Lang?”
Shae-Lynn frowned and ducked under the rope to brush Harley’s other side. I glanced at Lee-Anne. “Who told you that?”
“Who didn’t tell me that? Everybody’s gossiping.”
“There’s nothing to gossip about. Tawnie’s just trying her out for the weekend. If she doesn’t win, Stella goes back to Ron.”
“So, if she wins, you’re going to buy the horse?”
I pulled the brim of my hat down and kicked at the dirt. “Well, I have to.”
Shae-Lynn threw the brush in the grooming tray and walked behind the horse trailer where I couldn’t see her. Lee-Anne shook her head in a consolatory way as if she thought I was the stupidest person on the planet. My phone buzzed with a text. It was from Tawnie.
“I have to go.” I stepped around Harley to see where Shae-Lynn went. She wasn’t around. “Tell your sister I said bye.”
“Yeah. See ya,” Lee-Anne said, more amused than she should have been. It was just business.
On my way to the arena, Cole, Tyson, and Tyson’s cousin Blake caught up to me. Cole twisted my ear painfully and forced me to lean towards him. “Did you just drop eight thousand dollars on a horse for a chick who you are not only not sleeping with, but you have never even gone on a date with?”
“Ow. Let go.”
He released my ear and punched me in the shoulder, hard. “Where are you going to get eight thousand dollars from? I’m not paying for it.”
“Don’t worry about it. She has to win for the sale to go through.” I turned to look at Blake, who I hadn’t seen since I used to compete in the bigger rodeos. “What are you doing on this circuit?”
“I broke my collarbone. I decided to hang out with you sorry ass excuses for cowboys for a while and give my big cousin some pointers.” He mussed up Tyson’s hair.
“Watch it or I’ll break your other collarbone,” Tyson warned.
Tawnie and Stella were setting up in the alley as we walked over to the ring. They took off from the gate and she ripped around the first barrel. All four of us stepped forward and leaned on the fence to watch. She turned the second barrel with no air between and actually gained momentum. She skimmed the last barrel and then let the reins out and kicked home. We all looked up at the clock.
The contents of my stomach turned.
Cole and the Wiese boys laughed.
“Looks like you bought your girl a fast pony,” Cole said as he slapped my shoulder. “Better go find eight grand somewhere.”
“Shit.”
Cole was thrown on his first two outs, so he didn’t qualify for the finals. We had to stay until Sunday, though, to find out whether I was going to owe Ron Miller eight thousand dollars that I didn’t have for a horse I didn’t want. I’d already asked around to see if anyone was in the market to buy a barrel racing horse, but nobody was. Shae-Lynn was leading Tawnie going into the championship round, so I wasn’t too concerned. Stella was fast though. She was almost too fast for Tawnie’s riding ability. If Shae-Lynn rode her, they’d definitely be able to tear it up on the bigger circuits.
Cole and the Wiese boys weaved through the crowd, making their way up to where I was sitting in the grandstand. “You look like you’re going to throw up.” Cole laughed and sat down next to me. “I thought I was the one who was supposed to do stupid impulsive things.”
“It must run in the family.” I tugged on my shirt collar to try to relieve the strangling feeling in my throat. The more I thought about it, the more I realized what a bonehead decision it had been. If Tawnie won and I didn’t find a buyer before the weekend was over, I’d have to come up with the eight thousand for Ron and extra to transport, board, and feed the horse.
“What’s the plan if she wins?” Cole asked. “Are we going to make a run for it?”
“I’ll find a buyer, eventually, but she’s not going to win. Shae-Lynn was looking good in practice.”
He smiled as if he wasn’t so sure about that and watched Lee-Anne entertain the crowd with her trick riding.
Tyson tilted his head as she rode hanging upside down off the side of her saddle. “How does she bend like that?”
“I bet she’s bendy in all sorts of ways,” Blake said. “That is a definite asset.”
“Forget it,” Cole told him. “She has a boyfriend back home.”
“I bet she does.” He smiled in a sleazy way. “Look at that flexibility.”
When she finished, they all stood up hooting and hollering. The rest of the crowd wasn’t really paying that much attention. They were mostly only there to see the bulls that were coming up later. When the ground crew entered the arena to set up the barrels, I shifted around on the bench, looked up, and prayed, “Come on, Shae-Lynn.”
Unfortunately, Tawnie and Shae-Lynn were the last two of eight riders, so I had to sit there trying not to puke through the other ones. When the silhouette of Tawnie mounted on Stella entered the alley, I had to close my eyes. I didn’t want to wish her any bad, but I really hoped she would make a mistake. I opened one eye and peeked. Stella took off as if she’d been struck in the butt by lightening. Tawnie had to fight to get her to slow down enough to get around the first barrel. They flew around the next two barrels. When she ran home, I literally felt a blast of air as they raced by us.
“Yee haw!” the announcer shouted over the loud speaker. “If you blinked you missed Tawnie Lang on her new mount, Stella. Look at that time. She just blew the competition right out of the water. Ladies and gentlemen, this is as good as barrel racing gets. Give that pretty lady another round of applause. She has posted the fastest time of the weekend.” I glanced over at Cole, nervous as hell. He smiled at me in a goofy way as the announcer blabbed on, “With only one competitor left to ride, this is shaping up to be quite the race. We’ve got Shae Roberts on Harley. She was last year’s top earner in prize money and she was in first place coming into this round. She is going to need a fast time to stay there though.”
“I can’t watch.” I buried my face in my hands, only for a second, then looked up when the hooves pounded against the dirt. Harley ran fast, but Shae-Lynn didn’t approach the pocket properly and Harley dropped his shoulder way too early on the first turn. She picked it up around the other two barrels and then raced through the finish line. It wasn’t going to be a fast enough time though. Shae-Lynn immediately jumped off Harley and walked him out of the arena without even waiting for the time to be posted.
“What was that?” Cole mumbled, partly perplexed, but mostly amused.
“It almost looked like she threw that on purpose,” Tyson said after the scoreboard confirmed that she dropped to second place.
I was too stunned to say anything. I just sat there staring at the barrels.
“We’re going to watch Ty from behind the chutes. You coming?” Cole asked.
When I didn’t respond, he shrugged and then rushed to catch up to the other guys. I sat there all through the bulls and I was still sitting there after the grandstand had emptied. Eventually, Ron found me and climbed up. “Looks like you bought yourself a horse.”
I tilted my hat back and rested my elbows on my knees, still speechless that Shae-Lynn messed up.
“If I knew Stella was going to be that fast in competition I would have charged you more.”
“I don’t actually have the money right now, but I’m good for it.”
“You better be. I’m going to run five percent interest on it until you pay it off, so don’t take too long.”
“You can keep her until I get the money. I don’t even have a trailer or anything.”
“I don’t want her. You’re going to have to figure something out.”
I rubbed my face and sighed. “Yeah. All right.”
He chuckled at my misery as he climbed back down the bleachers.
I got up and went outside to find Tawnie. Shae-Lynn was walking back from the concession stand with a sandwich and a bottle of water. I ran to catch up with her. “Hey, what happened?”
She shook her head. “I just wasn’t feeling it today. Harley might have an upset stomach or something.”
“Harley was fine.”
Her eyes darted to meet mine for a second, then she stared down at the grass as she continued walking. “I can’t win them all. Stella’s a good horse.”
“The guys think you did it intentionally.”
“They do, do they?”
“Did you?”
“Why would I lose on purpose?”
“You tell me.”
“I just wasn’t feeling it today.” She walked faster.
“Shae-Lynn, what’s wrong?”
“For the millionth time, call me Shae.” She started jogging at that point and I wasn’t going to chase after her, so I went to find Tawnie. She was brushing Stella.
“Hey Billy. Did you watch the race? She is such a good horse. I absolutely love her. Too bad she has to go back to Ron.”
“Actually, I bought her from him.”
The comment took her off guard and she processed it for a few seconds. “You don’t even have a trailer. What are going to do with a horse?”
I took my hat off and ran my fingers through my hair, hoping she was willing to do me a favour since I did her one. “Would you be willing to take her?”
“I would love to, but I can’t afford to lease a horse.”
I paced, trying to come with a solution that wouldn’t end up with me having to buy a trailer and find a barn to board at. “If you cover the cost of boarding her, we can call it even.”
She eyed me suspiciously. “You’re going to just let me use your horse for nothing?”
“Well, you could give me one percent of your earnings on her if that makes you feel any better.”
“One percent? That’s it? Are you serious? I’ll give you ten percent.”
That was easy. “Fine.”
She squealed and launched herself at me for another hug. I was ready for it, so I squeezed my arms around her to make it last a little longer. “Thank you, Billy. I’ll take good care of her, and you can have her back whenever you want.” She rested her hands on my shoulders, which gave me a good angle to check out her cleavage. She bit the corner of her lip for a second. “We should go out and celebrate.”
My body reacted a little to the warmth of her hands and the scent of her perfume. I smiled. “Yeah. That’s a good idea.”
“All right. I’m going to ask someone to watch the horses. Then I need to go back to the hotel to get cleaned up. Rochelle said everyone is going to bar called Stetsons. I’ll meet you there later.”
I nodded, tipped my hat, and watched her ass as she spun and walked away.
Back at the camper, I showered and dressed in clean clothes. Cole came in as I was ironing my shirt. “Where you going?”
“To the bar.”
“With who?”
“Nobody,” I said because I didn’t want him giving me the gears.
“Yeah, right.” He unbuttoned his shirt and unbuckled his belt. “Wait for me. I’m coming with you.” He hopped into the shower and took forever.
“Hurry up,” I yelled through the door as I buttoned my shirt.
“Settle down. You don’t want to get there too early and be waiting.”
“I’d like to get there before it closes.”
Fifteen minutes later, he stepped out of the bathroom wearing a towel around his waist, smelling like a piña colada from his shower gel. “What are you worried about? You know girls take forever to get ready. I can guarantee she won’t be there before you — especially if she likes you.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“Everyone knows that a girl who doesn’t put any effort into looking good on a first date isn’t into you. Who is it, by the way? Tawnie?”
I didn’t say anything.
“That girl better thank you for buying her a damn horse. Here, take these.” He threw a handful of condoms at me.
“I didn’t buy her a horse. I bought a horse that she is just going to ride.”
He shook his head, not buying it, then looked in the mirror to apply a moisturizer.
I sat back and stretched my legs along the dinette bench. “I can see why you know so much about women. You pretty much are one.”
He threw the cap from the moisturizer bottle at me, then winked at himself in the mirror as he put some sort of product in his hair.
“Oh my God. Who cares what your hair looks like? You’re going to be wearing a hat.”
“The hat comes off at the end of the night, and I fully intend for some pretty girl to be seeing how my hair looks underneath it.” He sprayed cologne in the air. “Speaking of which, if I bring a girl back here, you need to find somewhere else to sleep.”
“No way. Get a room.”
“I bought this camper. You have two options: leave or listen.”
I rolled my eyes in exasperation. “Just hurry up.”